Blame Canada: NEON Prescribes Nia DaCosta’s “Little Woods”

With impressive grades from its Tribeca Film Festival showing, NEON have swooped in to grab the North American rights to a directorial debut that is being dubbed as a “nouveau” kind of Western. Starring Tessa Thompson and Lily James, Nia DaCosta‘s Little Woods is the latest competition film to be plucked from the fest. We had the chance to interview the filmmaker twice – once during the Sundance Labs process, and more recently Dylan had a phoner call with the filmmaker – listen below.

Gist: This tells the story of two sisters, Ollie (Tessa Thompson) and Deb (Lily James), who are driven to work outside the law to better their lives. For years, Ollie has illicitly helped the struggling residents of her North Dakota oil boomtown access Canadian health care and medication. When the authorities catch on, she plans to abandon her crusade, only to be dragged in even deeper after a desperate plea for help from her sister.

Worth Noting: The Kickstarter funded project was supported by the Sundance Institute, the San Francisco Film Society and the Time Warner Foundation.

Do We Care?: Winner of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Nora Ephron Award, Little Woods appears to further add to the political and feminist discourse.